A friend of mine, a non-technical type, has a 12 year old son who is interested in computers. Their family has a pretty strict "no screens” policy, so using computers is not really a thing. My friend is willing to make an exception for his son, but he wants the focus to be on “a black screen with white text”. In other words, he wants the focus to be on Linux, the command line and programming,...
My own reflections: http://meriksson.net/an-alternative-view-on-snowden
Some current listings from the Swedish equivalent of Craigslist:
There are some major caveats: Income taxes are extremely high and tax rules makes it almost impossible to share ownership in a rational way, e.g. it is very hard to setup stock option programs etc. Also, the domestic venture capital market is extremely underdeveloped - a great opportunity for foreign investors!
I am a firm opponent of all government programs to stimulate entrepreneurship. My view is that the government should simply get out of the way. And in fact, except for the taxes, this is by and large what the Swedish government is doing. For example, there is very little bureaucracy around running a business, e.g. starting an incorporated company is now done easily over the internet, often the whole process can be completed in a matter of days.
Things like the Raspberry Pi is great for reaching the nerdy clique, but I agree that the latter does not seem to be growing. On the other hand, I hear autism rates are way up in the valley - perhaps we can increase the size of the clique by selective breeding? =)
My first premise is that we are still in a relatively early stage of the technological boom signified by things like electronics, computers, robotics and the internet. These technologies have changed life on Earth dramatically, but I think there is at least as much to come. In any case, for the next two or three decades, more and more aspects of life will be the object of automation, computation etc. So the demand for software development will continue to increase, and probably by a lot. Software will become an even greater part of the economy and continue to crowd out other types of business.
My second premise is that only a small percentage of the population have the talent and inclination to become very good programmers, and children with these traits often do not get proper encouragement and guidance. So from the beginning, it is very hard for society to produce a large number of programmers. More importantly, the ratio of people who can become good programmers is probably more or less a constant, while the need for software development will grow much faster.
I also see reasons to believe that we are getting worse at producing programmers. For example, software is become more mature, hiding more and more of the internals. I started programming at age seven, in the eighties. In local stores I could buy glossy magazines with articles about programming, often with entire programs that I could copy into Basic etc. For sure, there is the internet now, but what kind of programming culture for kids is there? I could pick my first computer apart and learn all about how it worked. The kids these days learn to use iPads long before they learn to speak, but they never get to see what's inside. Who knows where this will lead? We already know that a lot of graybeards are retiring and they are often impossible to replace since the current generation of programmers is not nearly as hard-core.
I often think about how extraordinarily lucky I am to be living through this technological boom. Computation, automation and mass-communication will continue to transform human society even more for decades. High-end software development skills will become even more scarce. Immersing yourself in the boom by running a software shop with a bunch of good friends - the best of times!
Earlier tonight I was talking to someone about how odd it seems to me that software startups normally aim to operate at a loss. Perhaps I am a romantic, but I like the idea of a business making a good profit. Especially when dealing with something as lucrative as software, a business should be profitable from day one. I have always regarded David and Jason highly for having a similar attitude.
Fancy marketing presentation: https://scrive.com/gb/en/scriveapi
Documentation for devs: http://api.scrive.com
At my company we went through a handful of lawyers, mostly from big firms. We were extremely unhappy with the experience, especially since we did not seem to get reasonable value for our money, ours being a very small account for any established law firm.
Eventually we found a solution that was perfect for us. We now work with a freelancing lawyer who caters to startups and is an absolute joy to work with. He does all kinds of stuff on his own, kind of like our own part-time in-house legal council, but the big thing for me is that he can decide when we need some more muscle (i.e. big law firm, specialist in some type of law), and then we pay him to find, subcontract and manage all contacts with other lawyers.
I can not extract anywhere near maximum value from an expensive lawyer - this guy has a much better shot at it. As the CEO, I save a lot of time and anguish by only ever speaking to one lawyer, and the most pleasant one I've met at that.
If you want to get in touch with my legal guy - based in Stockholm, Sweden - ping me and I'll send you his contact information.
This is just about the only bad thing I have to say about Stratfor. Being a long-time subscriber, I am always a few steps ahead of basically everyone else when it comes to global politics, and this has been very useful and enjoyable over the years.
One thing worth pointing out is that a Stratfor account like mine does not contain any sensitive information. It gives me access to exactly the same Stratfor reports as any other subscriber. As far as I know, it would not be possible to obtain e.g. my credit card details by using that password.
Google Translate does an OK job with the site (although the Swedish word "Kontakt" should not be translated as "Plug"):
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&u=...
(The site currently runs on a minimal Heroku setup, so it will go down quickly if this catches some attention here on HN. Nevertheless, enjoy it while it lasts.)
Also, the project is open source, although the main public repo is currently in bad shape and not quite up to date:
https://github.com/digitaldemokrati
If there is some interest in this, I could do a write-up in English and post it here as a separate submission. Anyone interested?
PS. After lurking and posting from throwaway accounts since 2007, this is my first HN post in my own name!